Notre Dame stymies Georgia at Sugar Bowl, moves on to CFP semis
NEW ORLEANS — Jayden Harrison had a record kickoff return for a touchdown, Notre Dame’s defense dominated and the No. 7 seed Fighting Irish defeated No. 2 seed Georgia 23-10 in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday.
The Irish’s Riley Leonard passed for just 90 yards but threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Beaux Collins and rushed for a game-high 80 yards in a game that was postponed from Wednesday night because of the terrorist attack that took place in the French Quarter earlier that day.
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Notre Dame, 13-1 after winning its 12th consecutive game, will face No. 6 seed Penn State in a semifinal at the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9 in Miami.
Sophomore Gunner Stockton made his first start at quarterback for the Bulldogs (11-3) in place of Carson Beck, who suffered a season-ending elbow injury in the SEC championship game. Stockton completed 20 of 32 for 234 yards with one touchdown.
Notre Dame scored the game’s first touchdown with 27 seconds left in the first half and extended its lead to 20-3 when Harrison returned the second-half kickoff a CFP-record 98 yards for a touchdown.
Stockton threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Cash Jones to trim the lead to 10 points at the end of the third quarter.
On the third play of the fourth quarter Mitch Jeter kicked a 47-yard field goal to push the lead to 23-10. The Bulldogs had a chance to make it a one-score game, but Stockton threw an incompletion on fourth-and-5 from the Irish 9.
The game was scoreless through one quarter. Peyton Woodring kicked a 41-yard field goal for Georgia and Jeter kicked a 44-yarder to tie the score.
Jeter added a 48-yarder to give Notre Dame a 6-3 lead with 39 seconds left in the half. On the next play, RJ Oben forced Stockton to fumble while being sacked, Junior Tuihalamaka recovered for the Irish and Leonard and Collins teamed on their touchdown to give them a 13-3 halftime lead.
